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As quickly as you can, find $1000 and sock it away in its own account. Sell stuff you don’t need, find extra work… whatever it takes.
Why $1000? It’s only a starter emergency fund to be your safety net and catch you when you need it. You may want to save more (if larger emergencies tend to find you!) or perhaps less (if you don’t own a car, for instance). If you’re not sure, work on putting away a grand. It’s a great start.
You could, but when something unexpected happens – and it will! – without an emergency fund you’d have to run up your debt all over again. Getting sorted is about shedding your debt for good. There’s no point in borrowing more if you’re aiming to cut away from it completely. And it’s a great feeling to steer clear of debt when emergencies happen – you’ve got this!
If money’s tight and it feels like this is out of reach, you probably need an emergency fund even more. When the unexpected happens, having this safety net will be that much more of a relief. Start by selling anything you don’t need or taking on a side hustle to earn money. Whatever it takes, it will be worth it.
You can build your emergency fund by paying yourself first each time you’re paid – choose a regular amount to save that works for you. Use our budgeting tool to see how much you can manage, and find any extra money you can among your everyday expenses.
A separate account, but one you can get to within 24 hours. An online savings account (preferably earning a bit of interest) will do just fine, but perhaps with a different bank to keep it ring-fenced from your other everyday spending. This is not money to invest, it’s money for insurance – ‘self-insurance’ – since you’re covering yourself for the small disasters in life.
It's so satisfying. You can track your progress using your Sorted dashboard – add a task to your checklist, or set a goal with the amount you're aiming for.
Paying yourself first is like backwards budgeting. Instead of paying all the bills and saving whatever’s left over, the very first thing you do each pay is send a chunk of money to your savings and investments, before covering things like food shopping and other stuff.
But how much can you put away from each pay? Find extra money among your everyday expenses by using our budget planner.
If you typically rely on your credit card for emergencies, try something different this time. Save up $1000. Cash.
Getting sorted is about shedding your debt. There’s no point in borrowing more if you’re aiming to cut away from debt for good. And it’s a great feeling to steer clear of debt when the unexpected happens – you’ve got this!
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